In Fahrenheit 9/11, filmmaker Michael Moore juxtaposes images and words of a terrorist attack in Israel with President Bush's first words about the incident, spoken to a press pool on a golf course, with him leaning casually against a tree. Today, as the nation's law enforcement agencies respond to an attempted terrorist attack on U.S. soil, as the cable news channels and news websites pull in reinforcements to cover the incident from all angles, President Obama has been silent.

In fact, he's been golfing. He received a counterterrorism briefing early this morning, Hawaii time, and moments later, left for the gym. The president's vacation activities might have become the subject of a fierce partisan fight -- but really, the only carping is coming from the usual suspects on the right.

Isn't that sort of the definition of partisanship? Does Ambinder feel that a fierce partisan fight is only partisan if the left joins in? Yes, because stooges like Ambinder are shilling for Obama. His decision to go to the gym and then later golfing is... wait for it... brilliant!

But an in-person Obama statement isn't needed; Indeed, a message expressing command, control, outrage and anger might elevate the importance of the deed, would generate panic (because Obama usually DOESN'T talk about the specifics of cases like this, and so him deciding to do so would cue the American people to respond in a way that exacerbates the situation).

Obama of course will say something at some point. Had the terrorist blown up the plane, it;s safe to assume that Obama would no longer be in Hawaii. In either case, the public will need presidential fortification at some point. But Obama is willing to risk the accusation that he is "soft" on terrorism or is hovering above it all, or is just not to be bothered (his "head's in the sand," or "golfing comes first,") in order to advance what he believes is the proper collective response to a failed act of terrorism.

This to me is the problem with the Democrat's formulation that terrorism can be treated as just another criminal matter. You know, someone gets killed, we investigate, indentify a suspect and have a trial. The problem with this is that instead of "someone" getting killed, we have hundreds killed (if the bomb had gone off), or even thousands killed (as on 9-11).